Im a new DM, and I've always wanted to incorporate puzzles to my games. But since I suck at puzzles IRL I always struggle making them. Any tips on how to make them?
WallyDM is your man. He pops in on the forums from time to time and he has a great YouTube channel where he explains his puzzles. Even if you don't use his puzzles, maybe they will inspire you.
I found the puzzle-a-day calendar's to be pretty good... especially if you turn them into physical props.
You just need some imagination on how to incorporate them into the game and build a store around them.
Example: There's puzzles where you have to figure where each person at a table is sitting based on 4 or 5 clues. I had the group need to find the corpse of a certain person that was murdered during a banquet long ago. They found the room with the skeletons sitting around it and found the clues in the pocket of the butler's corpse in another room.
My best advice: always lowball your puzzles. The fun of a puzzle for most players is to feel smart by solving it quickly, not have to be smart because it's hard. And a lot of players don't like puzzles at all—they signed up to roll dice, slay dragons, and do funny voices. So it's usually best to keep puzzles stupidly simple, not because they're "good puzzles," but because everyone will have the most fun that way!
That said, you can't go wrong with a good old fashioned riddle!
I generally search for riddles and puzzles online and adapt them - like everyone else here is saying, no need to reinvent the wheel. I usually pitch them at the fairly easy level, so the players can feel clever when they solve it but not get too bogged down. One example was a riddle where "water" was the answer - used that as a key to open a door. One of my player groups solved it in about 5 mins, the other group took almost 20 mins plus a lot of tips to figure it out. For the water lock, one of the players cast an ice spell at the door and it opened an inch when the ice melted.
Im a new DM, and I've always wanted to incorporate puzzles to my games. But since I suck at puzzles IRL I always struggle making them. Any tips on how to make them?
A New DM up against the World
WallyDM is your man. He pops in on the forums from time to time and he has a great YouTube channel where he explains his puzzles. Even if you don't use his puzzles, maybe they will inspire you.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I found the puzzle-a-day calendar's to be pretty good... especially if you turn them into physical props.
You just need some imagination on how to incorporate them into the game and build a store around them.
Example: There's puzzles where you have to figure where each person at a table is sitting based on 4 or 5 clues. I had the group need to find the corpse of a certain person that was murdered during a banquet long ago. They found the room with the skeletons sitting around it and found the clues in the pocket of the butler's corpse in another room.
My best advice: always lowball your puzzles. The fun of a puzzle for most players is to feel smart by solving it quickly, not have to be smart because it's hard. And a lot of players don't like puzzles at all—they signed up to roll dice, slay dragons, and do funny voices. So it's usually best to keep puzzles stupidly simple, not because they're "good puzzles," but because everyone will have the most fun that way!
That said, you can't go wrong with a good old fashioned riddle!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
click the [search] button on top of this page and enter puzzle ..
playing since 1986
I generally search for riddles and puzzles online and adapt them - like everyone else here is saying, no need to reinvent the wheel. I usually pitch them at the fairly easy level, so the players can feel clever when they solve it but not get too bogged down. One example was a riddle where "water" was the answer - used that as a key to open a door. One of my player groups solved it in about 5 mins, the other group took almost 20 mins plus a lot of tips to figure it out. For the water lock, one of the players cast an ice spell at the door and it opened an inch when the ice melted.
Also you don't have to stick with the intended solution. If your players come up with a different one, that makes sense, roll with it.
Attack: [roll]3d20dl2+6[/roll] Damage: [roll](if([roll:-1:critical], =0, 1d8, 2{1d8}.expand()))+4[/roll] Sneakattack: [roll](if([roll:-2:critical], =0, 2d6, 2{2d6}.expand()))[/roll]